Murray may justly be considered the founder of modern oceanographic studies.
As a somewhat lackadaisical but talented student he came to the attention
of some influential people (including Lord Kelvin) who recommended him
to Charles Wyville Thomson. Thomson was in charge of scientific preparations
for the H. M. S. Challenger oceanic expedition, and as it turned
out Murray was the right man at the right time: for the next three years
plus he was in charge of on-board mapping and bottom sediment analysis
operations. On returning to England Murray spent years going over collected
materials, and when Thomson died in 1882 he inherited the job of getting
all the dozens of resulting analyses published (this was not finished
until 1895). Murray was involved in significant projects after the Challenger
one ended, but it was during the years of the latter that his offices
and labs first became a world center for oceanic research, especially
on subjects related to the deep ocean. Before dying in an accident in
1914 he was able to get his two most important all-audience books published
in 1912 and 1913, and these permanently solidified his status as the first
great worker within this realm.

Life Chronology

--born in Cobourg, Ontario, on 3 March 1841.
--1864-1865, 1868-1872: studies medicine at the University of Edinburgh,
but does not graduate
--1868: naturalist on a whaling ship in the Arctic
--1872-1876: naturalist on the H.M.S. Challenger expedition
--1876-1882: first assistant, publication of the scientific results of
the Challenger mission
--1882: appointed editor of publications for the Challenger mission
--1883: sets up the Edinburgh Marine Laboratory at Granton
--1883-1894: carries out marine research off the west coast of Scotland
--1885: publishes his Narrative of the Cruise of the H.M.S. Challenger,
with T. H. Tizard, H. N. Moseley, and J. Y. Buchanan
--1891: publishes his Deep-sea Deposits
--1895: publishes his A Summary of the Scientific Results Obtained
at the Sounding, Dredging and Trawling Stations of H.M.S. Challenger
--1896: made a fellow of the Royal Society of London
--1896-1898: member of the fishery board for Scotland
--1897: begins bathymetric survey of Scotland's lochs
--1897: forms company with G. Clunies Ross to develop the mineral resources
of Christmas Island
--1897-1898: first expedition to Christmas Island
--1898: knighted
--1899: British delegate to the International Hydrographic Conference,
Stockholm
--1908: second expedition to Christmas Island
--1910: pays for and participates in expedition to the North Atlantic
on the Michael Sars
--1912: publishes his The
Depths of the Ocean, with J. Hjort
--1913: publishes his The
Ocean; A General Account of the Science of the Sea
--dies at Kirkliston, Scotland, on 16 March 1914.